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Minecraft Pocket Edition has long been topping the download charts of iPhone and Android game apps, now with more than 20 million paid installs combined. The possibility to be able to play online is one of the main features that pull more downloads and because of this we have put together the ultimate guide where we cover all possible ways to setup your own Minecraft Pocket Edition server. Step by step we take you through the process!

PocketMine Server Hosting Software

PocketMine is to date the only software which people can download for free and use to setup their own Minecraft Pocket Edition server with. Mojang (the company which created Minecraft) is in no relation with PocketMine and got no intention anytime soon to release a server package similar what is offered for PC. PocketMine makes up for this lost space and is a good option to create a Minecraft Pocket Edition server for free on your own machine.

Installing the Server

Go to PocketMine and download the most recent version of the PocketMine-MP software.

Start the installer and follow through with the installation. If Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable wants to run its installation at the same time, let it run.

Upon finishing the installation you will be asked if you want to run PocketMine, allow for that to happen.

As you start the PocketMine program a command prompt window will appear and ask in which language you want to continue. For me the appropriate language is English which means I type out en and press return. You can choose any language but this guide will help you through the process in English.

Next you will be asked if you want to skip the setup wizard. Simply type y and press return. If you are on a Windows operating system a security warning window will pop up. Choose the appropriate option based on what network you are on. Now the actual parts of your server will be installed.

Type stop and press return. Wait for it to stop and then close the command prompt window.

The server is now installed but there are still things left over to do before it’s live for everyone with an Internet connection.

Server Configuration

Locate the folder in which you chose to install PocketMine. In my case I will head over to C:\Users\John\Downloads\PocketMine-MP. Open the file named server.properties using Notepad (I use Notepad++ which is an advanced (and free) version of Notepad).

In the server.properties file is all the core settings of your server found. No changes are necessary at this point but for demonstration we are going to edit the server name. For full descriptions what each line of settings mean your should head over to this page.

For changes to go live on your server you always need to save the server.properties file after making any changes to it. If your server was running at the time the changes were made you need to restart the server.

Port Forwarding

For players to be able to connect to our server we need to open ports in our router. The router is a physical box which connects multiple networks and directs the traffic between them.

As we all got different routers you should head over to PortForward.com and find the right guide on how to do this for your specific router. Though, you should still keep on reading to understand how the process looks like.

To make changes on the router we need to login to it. For that we need the internal IP address. Open cmd (command prompt) and type ipconfig and press return. The internal IP address is marked in red on the image below. It’s located after Default Gateway (which reads Standard-gateway for me as I’m on a Swedish version of Windows). Note the internal IP adress down.

Type the internal IP adress into the address bar in a web browser.

A verification window will pop up asking you for the username and password of your router. For my router the username is username and password is password but it differs from router to router (such information is found at PortForward.com).

Open the server.properties file located in the folder in which you installed PocketMine. On the 7th line copy the port (CTRL + C).

Click Services in the router menu and then click Add Custom Service.

Put the following information into each option and click Add.

Click the Firewall Rules link in the router menu and make sure you add what is seen in the images. As a Minecraft Pocket Edition server only uses the Inbound Services as far as I know it should be enough but to be on the safe side I also added it to Outbound Services. You should do the same.

Launching the Server

Go to the folder in which you installed PocketMine. For me it’s C:\Users\John\Downloads\PocketMine-MP.

Double click the start.cmd file and the server will start. The PocketMine-MP window must be open as long you want to keep the server running.

To make sure that everyone with an Internet connection can connect to the server we will register an account at MCPEIndex.com. Next you will need your external IP address which players on other networks than yours will use to connect to your server. Go to WhatsMyIP.org and copy your external IP address (located in the top of the web page).

Login to your MCPE Index account, click Add Server and paste the IP into the field asking for the IP and then copy the port which you forwarded before (default is 19132) into the port field. If the server is live for everyone it should tell you it’s online and on the right side of the web page a debug window with raw information about your server should appear.

Multiplayer for Minecraft PE

This is currently considered the easiest route to create a Minecraft Pocket Edition server. The downside is that it costs money in comparison to the PocketMine software. At this point the app is only available for iOS devices.

As you open the app you will have multiple options to choose from. Select the option saying Host server.

As you tap the Host server button it might ask you to login to Game Center. To access Game Center use your Apple ID and password.

Select Server is the area where your created servers will be displayed. Tap Add in the top right corner to start creating a server.

Enter the necessary information into the different fields and make changes to the settings which you want.

If you are not already running Minecraft Pocket Edition in the background then a message will pop up telling you to launch it and keep Minecraft Pocket Edition running in the background at the same time as the server app. Press the Home button and launch Minecraft Pocket Edition. Also, start the world which you would like to host.

Your server is now launched and in the bottom you can see the connected players.

Pocket Realms

Pocket Realms is a service which will be provided by Mojang in the late of 2014. It is a subscription based service and targets groups of friends and smaller communities. A Pocket Realms server is said to be able to hold 20 players at a maximum but it’s nothing Mojang has confirmed themselves yet. As soon Pocket Realms is released we will update this part with a thorough guide of how to get started.

90 Comments

I am one of the developers for the PocketMine-MP software, and I would just like to note that we are unrelated to the Multiplayer for Minecraft PE application.

I would also like to note that MCPE Index is not a service provided by the PocketMine Team, and you do not need to register your server there for your server to be visible to the internet. You just have to port forward and publish your IP online.

Please help me ! I installed multiplayer for MINECRAFT pe then I pressed host server but then it says “login to game centre” when I allready have… I kept on retrying but it does not work. So many people are having the same complaint, I hope someone will help

For a home LAN MineCraft PE server, I simply:
– Used an old iPod Touch (Gen3 or newer),
– Installed the app (free since I already bought it),
– Set lock screen time to “never” (Settings > General > Auto-Lock > Never),
– Start the app
– Set volume to zero
– Place on shelf on charger
– Forget

This gives me a free, full feature, no maintenance Minecraft PE server.
You can copy an existing world from your current device with free programs like iExplorer.

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I have installed this on the same machine I use to host my minecraft server. It’s a windows server 2012 and has plenty of specs to run both. The issue is, once it’s running, nobody, inside or outside the network, seems to be able to connect to it. I have opened the local firewall ports, setup port forwarding, opened the router firewall port, etc. with no luck. Here’s the log of what I get when it starts. It seems to me that it should show an IP address, not 0.0.0.0:

Pocketmine MP is outdated if you download it from the link on the front page their website. Pull up your server console and type ‘version’ (no quotes). When you press enter, you’ll see the version of MCPE that can connect to your server. The protocol changes with nearly every update from Mojang, so the Pocketmine server version MUST match your MCPE version or you will not be able to connect. Look up ImagicalMine for an equivalent server package that is up-to-date. As of 1-27-16, current MCPE version is 0.13.1, with 0.14 in development. If your Pocketmine MP server does not say v0.13.1, it won’t work.